India will be manufacturing 200 helicopters in collaboration with Russia to boost the defence sector of the country and as a part of the intensification and diversification of their strategic ties.

P S Raghavan, Indian Ambassador to Russia said, “Recently, we have agreed to joint manufacture of helicopters in India… Joint manufacture of 200 helicopters in India is big bang. If two countries decide to manufacture 200 helicopters in India with transfer of technology, and licence production, this is big bang.”

“This (India-Russia ties) is a huge, broad based relationship, getting broader every day,” he added.

He also added that under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, this could possibly be the first defence project.

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